Sam Heughan will get his awards show love, ‘Outlander’ fans

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For “Outlander” fans, the Starz time-travel drama has not received nearly enough awards show recognition.

The Emmys have only nominated it for technical awards — costumes, music and production design. While those noms are definitely deserved, fans continue to be frustrated with the lack of nominations for the actors and the show itself.

The Golden Globes have been better, nominating Tobias Menzies for supporting actor and the show for best drama series in Season 1, and star Caitriona Balfe for best actress in both seasons.

But co-lead Sam Heughan still has not been nominated by either major awards show and the Heughligans are restless. Fortunately, we think his best work is yet to come in Season 3.

Warning: Light spoilers ahead if you haven’t read the books.

Across the television landscape, it can be hard for even the top shows to receive acting recognition for more than one or two stars, simply because there is so much excellent TV airing right now. Heughan’s work, while wonderful, has been a bit overshadowed by the flashier material his co-stars have to work with.

For Menzies, Season 1 was going to be his juiciest season by far, because Black Jack Randall is all over the book as a complicated, dastardly villain — the kind of stuff made for a supporting actor nomination. Likewise, Balfe definitely shoulders the lion’s share of the drama in the first two seasons, as the books are very much Claire’s story.

But in “Voyager,” the third “Outlander” novel, Jamie is on his own for 20 years after surviving the Battle of Culloden — and Heughan should be able to sink his teeth into some very meaty material in those episodes.

From the aftermath of the Culloden defeat, to the cave, to his relationships with Laoghaire (Nell Hudson) and Geneva (Hannah James), to William (whose identity we won’t spoil here in case you aren’t a book reader), Jamie is put through the wringer without Claire. And while her life without him is not all sunshine and rainbows, it’s not the same as what he’s going through.

Furthermore, those 20 years are only the first half of the book, so there’s also the sea voyage and Jamaica to look forward to. We’re eagerly anticipating that Season 3 will really let Heughan shine — and perhaps in a year’s time, he’ll be issuing a statement about how excited he is to be nominated for his first Golden Globe.

“Outlander” returns in 2017 on Starz.

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Posted by:Andrea Reiher

TV critic by way of law school, Andrea Reiher enjoys everything from highbrow drama to clever comedy to the best reality TV has to offer. Her TV heroes include CJ Cregg, Spencer Hastings, Diane Lockhart, Juliet O'Hara and Buffy Summers. TV words to live by: "I'm a slayer, ask me how."